38 Aid Agencies Warn Of Humanitarian Disaster In Gaza

38 Aid Agencies Warn Of Humanitarian Disaster In
Gaza If Military Confrontation Is Not Stopped

As
the impact of days of violent escalation worsens for
civilians in Gaza and in Israel, a group of 38 aid and
development agencies today urged world leaders to take swift
action to enforce a ceasefire in order to protect civilian
lives and infrastructure and prevent another widespread
humanitarian disaster in Gaza brought on by a prolonged
military confrontation.

The agencies said the
international community must apply immediate pressure on the
government of Israel to keep the crossings to Gaza open to
allow in supplies of essential humanitarian aid and push all
parties to the conflict to end violence and uphold their
obligations under International Law.

“World leaders
cannot sit by while civilian casualties in Gaza and Israel
continue to mount,” said Nishant Pandey, Oxfam Country
Director.

“We urgently need to enforce a cease fire.
The present conflict threatens to perpetuate and worsen the
humanitarian impact on Palestinian civilians in Gaza of over
five years of Israeli blockade and the 2008-2009 Israeli
military operation ‘Cast Lead’. It will only deepen
despair, create more insecurity, and jeopardize chances for
Israelis and Palestinians to reach a just and durable
peace,” he said.

The agencies call comes as local health
care partners and hospitals in Gaza have announced they are
running out of essential drugs and medical supplies. As the
escalating violence makes it difficult for partner
organizations and local staff in Gaza to move around on the
ground, the agencies said there were growing concerns about
getting help to injured people and food and other
necessities to people in need.

“Thousands of innocent
people, including women and children, are in danger of being
caught in the crossfire in the escalating violence between
Israel and Hamas. We are urgently appealing to all sides, as
well as to world leaders, to seek a political resolution and
avoid the loss of any more human lives. If global leaders do
not intervene, Gaza stands on the brink of yet another
humanitarian crisis,” said Aleksandar Milutinovic, Mercy
Corps Country Director, West Bank/Gaza.

Noting a number of
civilian injuries and deaths over the past days, the
agencies said that it was critical that the protection of
civilians was prioritized by the parties to the conflict as
outlined by International Humanitarian Law. They stressed
that the protection of civilians extends to civilian
infrastructure, as a number of homes have already been hit
by strikes and shellings.

“Save the Children is deeply
concerned by the recent escalation of violence in Gaza and
Israel. Children are already among the dead – and as
always, children bear the hardest burden during military
conflict. Save the Children urges all parties to end the
violence immediately,” said Alex Schein Save the Children
Country Director.

In calling for an end to the violence,
the organizations stressed the need for the international
community to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1860,
passed in March 2009, which outlined the conditions for a
permanent ceasefire and a path to long term security for
both sides.

“The failure to fully implement UN Security
Council Resolution 1860 has only re-fuelled a cycle of
violence that now needs to be put to a permanent end. The
international community has an obligation to act to protect
civilians and there needs to be immediate pressure on all
parties to the conflict to stop the fighting and start
working towards peace,” said David Viveash, The Carter
Center Field Office Director.

With 1.6 million
Palestinians in Gaza, around half of whom are children and
around 50,000 of whom are elderly, still living under
blockade, the organizations said another military operation
would only increase the hardship faced by the people they
work with.

“Civilians pay the greatest price when the
international community fails to act. There are families
that CARE and our Palestinian partners have worked with in
Gaza who are still living amidst the rubble of their
destroyed homes. It is critical that those with power to
stop the conflict act now. The human costs of another
military confrontation would be too high – the people of
Gaza cannot afford to start rebuilding their lives all over
again,” said David White, CARE Country Director.

Notes:

According to UN OCHA, 1,400 Palestinians were
killed during the 2008-2009 military operation ‘Cast
Lead,’ including 353 children, and 5,300 were injured. 13
Israelis were also killed during ‘Cast Lead’, 3 of whom
were civilians.

Israel closed the Kerem Shalom crossing,
the sole crossing for goods into Gaza on Wednesday 14
November 2012. It was re-opened on 18 November 2012 to allow
in 124 trucks, which is 30 percent of the pre-blockade
daily average of trucks.

The Association of International
Development Agencies (AIDA) is a coordinating body of more
than 80 aid and development agencies working in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory and Israel. The 38 agencies that have
signed on to this press statement are all members of AIDA.
Quotes from individual agencies reflect their own agency’s
position and are not the official position of all AIDA
members. The 38 agencies are as follows: American Friends
Service Committee (AFSC); Action Against Hunger (ACF); ACPP;
ActionAid; Care International; Community Housing Fund (CHF);
CPT; DanChurchAid (DCA); Diakonia; Emergency Water
Sanitation and Hygiene Group (EWASH); Fondazione Terre des
Hommes Italia ONLUS; Gruppo di Volontariato Civile (GVC);
Handicap International; HelpAge International; Japan
International Volunteer Center (JVC); Kvinna til Kvinna;
Life for Relief and Development; Medecins du Monde France;
Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP); medico international;
Mercy Corps; Movement for Peace; Norwegian Church Aid
(NCA); Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA); Norweigian Refugee
Council (NRC); Oxfam; Polish Humanitarian Action (PAH); Save
the Children; Seba; Secours Islamique France; Solidaridad
International; Terre des Hommes Switzerland; The Swedish
Organization for Individual Relief; The Carter Center; The
Lutheran World Federation (LWF); The Overseas NGO; War Child
Holland; World Vision Jerusalem-West Bank-Gaza

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